I considered an alternate title - "Seller's Belief" - Does Size Matter? - but since Kathleen Daniels posted about a completely different topic today - with an outrageous title - which of course I was compelled to re-blog - I thought I would tone it down a little bit,

There has been a trend I've noticed lately - of the square footage of the home per "Tax Records" not matching the Seller's belief - which is usually a higher number.

Sometimes the Seller's belief is supported by a previous appraisal - which is great.

Sometimes the Seller's belief is supported by the floor plan provided by the builder - which has square footage prior to any "custom additions". Not quite as good as an appraisal - but better than "Seller's belief" by itself.

Sometimes the Seller's belief is supported only by...well...Seller's belief. Problematic. While we can enter square footage into the MLS "Per Owner" - what happens if the Buyer's Appraisal tells a different story?

In my opinion, it's a good idea for homeowners to be aware of what the tax records for their property show to be the square footage - and if there is a discrepancy - get it "fixed" well in advance of listing their home for sale.

The last thing a Seller needs is a Buyer Agent advising their Buyer that there might be a "problem" with stated "square footage" of the property.

What say you?

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I have only had this happen one time, and the town was in error due to the builder submitting the wrong plans and the building department not noticing. The town stated the house was smaller and the owner didn't want to fix due to an increase in taxes. I warned them they would need to do that at some point, which they did. I did note square footage came from the owner, not town records. PIA.

In my market, if there is a discrepancy, I've seen agents indicate in the MLS "buyers to verify [fill in the blank]" ... it could be square footage, permits, etc. As a listing agent I work with the sellers to get all of the information verified upfront and provide all of the documentation in the seller disclosures.

As for the title of my post ... I was really a quote ... BUT I guess I could have used something else

This is when "due diligence" comes in. I do think that sq. ft. isn't used much to negotiate an offer less than list, but it does come up on the appraisal. I have had stories about sq. ft. over the years, and it wasn't that big!

Posted by Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED (RETIRED / State License is Inactive) over 2 years ago

We've run into this once or twice Carla Muss-Jacobs, Principal Broker/Owner -thanks for stopping by with a comment!